Recently I was thinking about what it means (practically) to turn my heart to God or to love Him with all of my heart, mind, soul, and strength. A Brother referred me to Christ's parable about the four different types of soil that represent four different types of hearts. I think His parable ties in well with this verse from Hosea:
10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness,reap the fruit of unfailing love,and break up your unplowed ground;for it is time to seek the LORD,until he comesand showers righteousness on you.
So then the question is, how do I practically "plow" the hard ground of my heart?
Of course, this only comes with a repentant heart:
14:1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God.Your sins have been your downfall!2 Take words with youand return to the LORD.Say to him:"Forgive all our sinsand receive us graciously,that we may offer the fruit of our lips.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I confess that I am a proud person. Lord, please humble my pride. I pray that you will save me from myself. Lord, please lead me to walk in the Spirit today. I pray that you will help me set my mind on the Spirit and not on the flesh. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
4 years ago i started asking myself the same thing. here's 4 steps that has worked for me:
ReplyDelete1. self examination. i have to start by searching the true motives of my character. open praying for the Lord to reveal the "hard soils" of my heart. this is by no means an easy thing to do. when i go through this time of self examination, i usually set aside specific times of fasting and prayer. my point is to get serious with this step, and the rest of these steps that follow will be easy.
2. recognition. once the Lord reveals those areas, learn to recognize the process of how it hardens in your life. example, my anger. i've learned to recognize when i start becoming frustrated with people/circumstances, and how it builds into rage if i let it stew. again, this part came from fasting and prayer, and allowing the Lord to reveal the process to me.
3. act on it. this ties in with recognition, once i recognize it, i have to act on it to remove it. this comes by who i release my anger to. if i release it to the person who is frustrating me, i'm being angry and sinning. but if i take my anger to the Lord, and allow Him to replace it with His love, then i am worshipping (this is how Romans 12:1-2 is defined). if i recognize and don't act on it, i'm sinning. we are held accountable for our actions (or non-actions).
4. be teachable. you can't really do step #1 (let alone the rest) if you are not teachable. learn to recognize that you are not always right, and that you don't know everything. i'm always looking for ways to improve anger management. when kyle miller shared with me the essentials of step #3, and i applied it; i wasn't content with it. not because it didn't work (i've applied it to my life, not just that area of anger); but because i wanted to learn how to improve upon it; to change my lifestyle, attitude, and perspective. i couldn't do that if i wasn't teachable. in fact, your relationships with the Lord and others will never go beyond the surface if you have an unteachable spirit. a person who is unteachable is complacent (revisit that conversation), apathetic, and wrapped up in themselves. spiritually, that is the most dangerous place to be.
am i perfect at it? no, and i never will be, but i (and other's who are closest to me) have seen significant results in this area of my life; and i am continuing to grow in the Lord because i am allowing Him to till the "hard soil" by following these steps. give it a 60-day trial, it's free, and what do you have to lose?